Although I sew most of my clothes, I follow a few fashion labels on the socials. One of them is Motto, and over winter they had some great stretch pleather pants. I figured that stretch pleather pants could fit nicely into my lifestyle; all I needed was to find some fabric to sew them in!

I found this plum stretch pleather at Super Cheap Fabrics, and bought enough for the pants and a jacket. I don’t think that this fabric is still available. I used my trusty Style Arc Misty jeans for the pants, and the Style Arc Harper pattern for the jacket.

Shall I start with the pants? I’ve probably said all of this before…I eliminated all the front detailing – the faux pockets and the fake fly. Rather than the exposed elastic waistband in the pattern I fully enclosed wide elastic in the same fabric, and overlocked that on.

I did keep the Misty back detailing, with the yoke and pockets. I didn’t bother about any fancy stitching on the pockets though; the stretch pleather really wasn’t amenable to that!

I sewed my usual Misty size; I think it’s a 12 but could be a 10; the pattern has been used so much over the years that it’s hard to remember. It’s very creased and has all my shortening alterations built in.
The overlocker coped okay with the fabric, but the machine needed a very new sharp needle and the teflon presser foot. Most of the construction was on the overlocker; the machine was just for topstitching and hemming.

The Harper jacket pattern is designed with raw edges. When I’ve sewn this in the past I’ve added an allowance to the hems and turned and stitched them, but this time I left everything raw as designed. So this ended up being super fast to cut out and sew – just a back, two fronts, and the sleeves! There is a little bit of machine sewing to secure the back collar, but otherwise it’s all constructed on the overlocker. I sewed size 12.

Obviously, this is a relaxed and casual piece, without any tailoring or much fitting. I rather like the overall ensemble that I have ended up with! The sleeveless pleated top I am wearing underneath was a $10 sale item at Sussan a year or two ago that I hadn’t really worn and was about to send to the op shop, but it’s staying in the wardrobe now to be worn in this combination. Boots are from Django and Juliette via my fave eBay sample size seller.  I will be reachhing for this outfit when I need to feel a bit dressy, but relaxed – for the theatre, a restaurant with my friends, or similar.

Kwik Sew 3595 is a pattern that I’ll probably be sewing indefinitely. I first sewed it back in 2012 – and those pyjamas were worn until they literally came apart. I replaced them with another pair in 2016 – and like the first pair, these pyjamas were worn until they came apart. I patched them so many times, but there’s only so much that voile can take! This time around I have sewn them in silk. I wonder if they will also last for years?

This silk came from Eliza’s, shortly before they closed their doors forever (sob). I still have some of their silk in stash with plans to sew a robe and more pyjamas.

Sadly, this pattern is well and truly out of print. Nab a copy if you see it on eBay/Etsy or similar! In view A these are perfect summer pyjamas for me. Cropped legs in a loose, elastic waisted pant. Sleeveless, but not strappy, so no getting twisted up as I sleep. I rotate rather than roll in my sleep, and this style works nicely!

I sewed size Medium since that’s what the pattern was cut out at. If I had been starting from scratch I would possibly go up a size, given that my measurements have gone up quite a bit in the ten years since I first used this pattern, but it still seems to fit comfortably. Thank goodness for ease! There’s also an easy sew, with a self-lined yoke on the top.

Yes, I’ll sew these again.

I mentioned the Style Arc Misty jeans in a recent blog post as one of my favourite pull-on jeans patterns, then realised that I haven’t properly blogged this recent pair. As always, top tucked in only to show you the details of the jeans; I don’t wear them styled this way.

You can see that there is no front detailing at all in this pair; I removed the fake pockets and the fake fly. Not only does it make for a much faster sew, it removed bulk.

I keep the detailing at the back as the yoke improves the fit and the pockets do peek out under many clothes. I often do fancy topstitching on the back pockets but it seems that I was too lazy this time around!  My pattern is well-used now and has some leg length removed and the waistline graded out.

I cut a wide rectangular waistband for these jeans. The width depends on what elastic I have handy to enclose inside it; this time it was quite wide and it’s resulted in a very comfortable waistband. The fabric is what was described as a textured bengaline from Super Cheap Fabrics; it is almost a denim weight and has loads of stretch. It’s definitely much more black in colour than it looked on the website, although the colour was described as ‘charcoal’ so I shouldn’t have been surprised! I generally buy 1.5m for these types of pants.

And a refresher on what the actual line drawing for these pull-on jeans is actually like:

Fabric weight and stretch makes such a difference when using stretch wovens (and knits).  This pair is actually roomy enough for thermals to fit underneath so although they’re close-fitting they’re not as close as leggings.  I’ve worn them frequently this winter and you may have already spotted them as the ‘bottom’ in a few of my earlier blog posts.